Pallets are often used for supporting and moving various types of articles. Pallets may be constructed from many different materials, including wood, metal, fiberglass or plastic, and are typically designed to be loaded and moved by forklifts, hand trucks, cranes or other specialized handling or loading equipment.
Most pallets have a deck with an upper support surface and a number of support members depending from the deck to elevate the deck and hence the articles supported on its upper surface above the ground to prevent moisture, dirt and other debris from coming into contact with the supported articles. When not in use, the pallets are often stacked to conserve floor space. Some pallets are therefore formed with pallet stacking structure that supports and stabilizes multiple pallets when stacked.
Pallets are often used to support trays that may be used to hold miscellaneous small objects such as fruit. The trays typically have an upper support surface with a circumscribing outer lip or wall and a number of legs that depend from the support surface to support the upper support surface above a pallet or other surface. The trays are typically designed to be stacked on top of one another such that a number of the trays may be supported on a single pallet. Unfortunately, when multiple trays are stacked on a pallet in this manner, the weight of the trays and the parts held in the trays can exert tremendous forces on the trays at the bottom of the stack and damage the trays. Such damage can be exacerbated by the pallet stacking structure described above because it often interferes with the proper placement and alignment of the trays on the pallet.